Railway-tie.



PATENTED AUG. 20

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T. G. HAMILTON.

RAILWAY TIE.

APPLIOATION FILED F3318, 1907.

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THOMAS G. HAMILTON, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-TIE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1907.

Application filed February 18, 1907. Serial No. 357.792.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS Gr. HAMILTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Ties, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention refers to improvements in railway ties, and consists of a tie made of a single piece of sheet or plate metal bent upon itself to provide a longitudinal flat under bearing base, upwardly and inwardly projecting sides terminating in outwardly or oppositely extending supporting flanges, said sides being separated from each other by considerable space and inclosing an open topped interior ballast containing trough. The sides are also bent outwardly and inwardly to provide stiffening embracing portions, and the device is constructed and designed to operate in the manner hereinafter more fully described.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l. is a view in side elevation of one end of my improved tie, showing one of the rails secured thereon. Fig. 2. is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3. is an end view of the tie, showing a portion of the rail thereon. Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the complete tie, eliminating the rails and attaching elements. Fig. 5. is a cross sectional detail view on the line V. V. of Fig. 1, illustrating the combination with the tie of the road-bed and ballast. Fig. 6. is a detail view of the end of the tie, illustrating a modified construction. The entire body portion of the tie is composed of a sheet or plate metal blank bent to provide a bottom portion 2 of suitable width extending lengthwise of the tie from end to end and constituting the main bearing portion thereof, of such a width as to approximate substantially the same width as an ordinary wooden tie. Each side of the plate is bent upwardly and inwardly as indicated at 3, 3, and then outwardly in opposite directions on planes parallel with the base 2, providing the rail-supporting flanges 4, 4, with a considerable intervening space 5 for the purposes hereinafter set forth. The blank as thus bent constitutes a longitudinal trough-shaped body, rhomboidal in cross section, the corners being rounded as indicated at 6, 6, and 7, 7, respectively, giving a broad bearing base, upwardly and inwardly extending side walls, and laterally extending rail-bearing flanges. For the purpose of securing the rails on said flanges, they are provided with bolt holes 8 and any suitable or convenient rail-attaching clips or shoes 9 held in place by the bolts 10, as will be readily understood.

1 do not desire to be in any way limited to the means for securing the rails, and do not desire to claim such specific means as new, it being obvious that other and various devices may be employed to secure the same results.

At intervals along the tie, the lower side'edges comprising the base portions of wall 3 and the outer portions of bottom 2, are pressed inwardly as indicated at 11, providing inwardly extending stiffening braces of upwardly tapering form as clearly shown in Fig. 1, while similar bracing elements 12 are formed by pressing the side plate and flanged portions outwardly at intervals along the upper half of the tie, providing the outwardly extending supporting and stiffening braces 12 for the flanges as shown. The said inwardly and outwardly pressed elements may be located in oppositely arranged lower and upper pairs at intervals throughout the length of the tie, or they may be in staggered arrangement, 1'. e. the upper bracing outwardly extending projections 12 may be located alternately between the inwardly extending bracing projections 11, the stiffening effect being secured with either arrangement. A material advantage of such off-set braces is that they provide recesses and abutments at both the inner and outer portions of the tie, adapted to engage the ballast when the tie is in place in the road bed. The recesses defining the lower braces 11 likewise facilitate the tamping of the ballast, and when the entire tie is solidly set in place and engaged by the ballast as indicated in Fig. 5, longitudinal movement of the tie will be practically prevented.

A further especial feature of the construction in addition to the holding engagement by the laterally projecting bracing portions, is that the trough-shaped tie, being open at the top, may likewise be entirely filled with the ballast, thereby weighting it for the full body portion thereof, the gravity effect of the interior ballast, together with the pressure of the ballast upon the outer inclined faces of the sides 3, resulting in a very solid bedding.

A further feature of advantage is that the sides 3, being separated from each other at their upper portions for a considerable distance, are entirely independent of each other so that each side possesses a certain degree of independent flexibility. This feature, when present in the oppositely arranged inwardly sloping sides 3, is particularly effective in utilizing the bracing effect of the inclined side, each side pre senting resisting rigidity against the shock of impact of the load, whether going in one direction or the other.

The inherent flexibility of each side, due to its independence of the other side except through the connecting web constituting the bottom 2, further enhances the holding effect of the securing devices by producing a tightening thereof in action. This effect is due to the fact that the pressure of the load upon the rail is transmitted to the tie, and tends to slightly tip the flange 4, at one side or the other, thereby resulting in a momentary tightening effect through the bolt and holding shoe or whatever equivalent device is used.

In Fig. 6 I have shown the end of the tie as beveled off at an angle approximating the slope of the ballast at the side of the road-bed, as at 13, thereby fully utilizing the gravitating effect of the ballast and incasing the entire tie in same; resulting in a smooth continuous finish at each side of the track and avoiding any upwardly projecting corners. The construction otherwise is however the same as has been already described.

The advantages of my invention will be readily understood by all those familiar with this class of devices.

The tie, consisting as it does of a single piece of plate metal bent or shaped into the finished tie without any connecting or supplemental holding elements or devices except to hold the rails in place, is easy and cheap to manufacture, durable and eflicient in service, and will be found to perform its functions in asatisfactory manner.

Various changes or modifications may be made in the design construction or other details by the skilled mechanic but all such changes are to be considered as within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A metallic railway tie formed of a plate metal blank bent to provide a flat base, inwardly and upwardly sloping sides terminating in outwardly extending flanges, with an intervening longitudinal space, said sides having inwardly and outwardly pressed stiffening abutments, substantially as set forth.

2. A metallic railway tie formed of a plate metal blank bent to provide a flat base, inwardly and upwardly sloping sides terminating in outwardly extending flanges, with an intervening longitudinal space, said sides having inwardly and outwardly pressed stiffening abutments, said flanges being provided with rail-attaching devices, substantially as set forth.

3. A trouglrshaped open top tie composed of plate metal bent to provide a supporting base, upwardly and inwardly sloping sides and outwardly extending supporting flanges, with stiffening abutments and recesses pressed in the sides, bottom and top portions, substantially as set forth.

4. A trough shaped open top tie composed of plate metal bent to provide a supporting base, upwardly and In wardly sloping sides and outwardly extending flanges, with stiffening abutments and recesses pressed in the sides, bottom and top portions, and having its ends cut off at an angle backwardly and upwardly from the lower terininals of the tie, substantially as set' forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses,

THOMAS G. HAMILTON.

Witnesses C. M. CLARKE, CHAS. S. Lunacy. 

